Stars and Stripes
by ADivergentRebel
Summary: In celebration of the Fourth of July, Chicago couple Four and Tris decide to head down to Navy Pier for some patriotic fun. They discover how lucky they are to live in a free country, and realize what it truly means to be an American. (Warning: This short story includes lots of fluff.)


"Tobias!" I shout, clutching at my stomach, that is sore from all the laughter. "Stop!"

"I don't think so," a sly smile creeps across his lips, as his hands continue to tickle the bottom of my feet. I'm not ticklish anywhere else, and he managed to find my one weak spot.

"I'm going to fall off the bed if you don't stop!"

Obnoxious laughs continue to flood from my mouth, involuntarily. I attempt to push him off of me, but wind up falling on the floor, dragging some of the bed sheet with me. Tobias laughs.

I sit up, propping my arm up against my knee. "What a way to start the morning." I remark, and a smile forms on my lips, even though I told it not to.

He peers over the bed, looking down at me sitting on the floor. "Yep." He quirks his eyebrows.

I laugh a little and playfully roll my eyes.

Then something dawns on me, and I stand up. "Oh, and, Happy" I point to him. "th of July." I grin.

He gets on his knees, and wraps his arm around my neck, making me bend at the waist, and putting me in a headlock. I know exactly how to twist his arm, that would force him to loose his grip, but I don't do it, so I don't accidentally hurt him. He uses his free hand to ruffle up my hair. He's loved doing that ever since I cut it up to my chin.

He releases me. "To you too."

"You know," I start. "there are fireworks at Navy Pier tonight."

He nods, crossing his legs.

I raise my eyebrows expectantly. "Would you… like to go?"

He nods. "Sure. Isn't Christina having a BBQ, though?"

"Yeah. It's at noon. We'll have more than enough time." I glance at the alarm clock the rests on our night stand.

My eyes widen, and I rake a hand through my hair. It is tangled and messy from rubbing against Tobias so much last night. I'm pretty sure I drooled on his chest while I was asleep, too.

"Tobias!" I say again. "How did we oversleep?" The clock reads 10:30.

He swings his legs around the side of the bed, and stands. "We didn't oversleep." His arms find their way around my waist. "we just spent a lot of time in bed." He wiggles his eyebrows.

I shove him playfully, not bothering to try and suppress the redness that forms on my cheeks.

He chuckles, and the noise rumbles in my chest. It is comforting.

I wrap my arms around him, and pull him as tight as I can against me for a second, and then let go, turning away from him to go get ready for whatever the day holds.

After we shower and get dressed, I head toward the kitchen, Tobias hot on my tail.

He takes a seat the bar.

I turn on our Keurig, and turn toward him. "Coffee?"

He nods once. "Coffee."

I grab Tobias's favorite K-cup, and place it in the Keurig, and setting his mug underneath where the freshly brewed coffee will come out.

"I think it's a Matcha kind of day." I say.

Tobias shakes his head and makes a noise of disgust. "I don't know how you drink that stuff."

I laugh a little. Tobias always gives me a hard time about how disgusting my favorite drink is, Matcha, a form of Japanese green tea. I'd be even more surprised if he liked it, though.

While his coffee brews, I prepare my drink.

"What would you like for Breakfast?" I ask him.

He looks up at me from the morning paper, the Chicago Tribune.

"Do we have eggs? I feel like I need some protein."

"Hmm." I open the refrigerator. "Ahh, yes!" I grab the carton of eggs. "We do indeed!"

I make our Breakfast, and sit down next to him. He tells me a little bit about what's going on within our city, Chicago, and the world beyond it. We talk a about things we could do to help better our society, but there's only so much we can do. So many things are wrong with the world, and I almost feel selfish to be so privileged, and to live here in America, and to be so free, while war and poverty rages on in other countries. But I don't know what I, Beatrice Prior, a girl who writes novels for a living, could possibly do about it.

Tobias and I thought about joining the military at one point, but ever since my father died in Afghanistan, we haven't considered it. I can't lose him. I just can't. It makes me feel disgusted with myself, because I am not willing to risk my life, or his, for the safety of our country, because of my selfish desires. I just don't want to leave him.

Water clouds my vision as I tell Tobias. We learned a long time ago to not keep thoughts like these locked up and hidden from each other.

I shake my head. "I'm just so damn selfish." A single tear rolls down my cheek. "My father would be disappointed."

Tobias's expression remains hard. I see no pity in his eyes, but I would have been disappointed if I had.

"Your father would not be disappointed, Tris." He sighs. "In fact, I bet he would be proud. You have influenced the lives of so many teenagers through the works of your Young Adult novels, thus creating a better generation for our future." He pauses. "Just because you don't want to enter the military, and fight for our country, doesn't mean you're selfish; as long as you're grateful toward those who do serve, and know not to take our safety and freedom for granted." He brings his hand up to cradle my cheek, and his thumb brushes away my tear. "Which I know you don't." He murmurs. "Everyone has a different path, and that just wasn't yours."

"Tris!" Christina pulls me into a bone-crushing embrace. "So glad you could make it!"

"Yeah. Thanks for inviting us."

She pulls away. "Are you kidding? Like I'm not going to invite my best friend and her intimidating boyfriend to my biggest party of the year!"

I roll my eyes. "He's not intimidating."

"Says you!" She slaps my arm. "Now _come on_ , the BBQ is ready!"

I smile, and follow her into her huge kitchen, that smells heavily of BBQ sauce.

All of our friends are here. Uriah, and his brother, Zeke, Lynn, Marlene, Shauna, and Christina's boyfriend, Will.

"Hey Tris!" They exclaim.

I smile. "Hey guys."

I get a plate, and load it up with some of the food that is set out on the counter, and go to stand next to Tobias, who is talking to Zeke. He's already eaten half of his food.

"So, Four," Zeke says. "Is the _Four_ th of July your favorite holiday?"

Tobias groans.

I take a bite of bread. It tastes strange.

"Oooh! While we're on the subject of cheesy Four jokes…" I start. "Hey Four, nice Tobiceps!" I give his arm a squeeze.

Zeke and I burst out into hysterical laughter, and a look of pure annoyance forms on Tobias's face.

"Hey Tobias," Zeke starts, as Tobias takes another bite of food. "Whatcha Eaton?"

We laugh harder, and I give Zeke a high five.

"I'm done." Tobias mutters, walking in the other direction.

Later that evening, Tobias and I arrive at Navy Pier. I don't know what came over me, but I started to act incredibly stupid at Christina's party. I don't know what it was. The bread, perhaps.

A crisp wind surrounds me, and I grip Tobias's hand tighter.

"Hey," I say softly. "how about we watch the fireworks from up there?" I point to the legendary Navy Pier Ferris Wheel.

He gulps. "Would it make you happy?"

 _Yes._ I want to say. _It would make me happy. But the last thing I want to do tonight is to force him out of his comfort zone._

I twist my upper body slightly so I can look at him. The lights from the skyscrapers behind us reflect up off of Lake Michigan, and shine in the depths of his dark eyes. There is a slight crease between his eyebrows.

"We don't have to." I say.

He breaks eye contact. "But you want to."

"Yeah, well, I mean, we don't," The right words can't seem to find their way out of my mouth. "but-"

He laughs softly. "I think you will be enough to distract me from the height, Tris." A small smile appears.

My heart begins to beat faster.

"Let's go get tickets." He gives my hand a reassuring squeeze, and leads me toward the ticket booth.

Navy Pier is absolutely packed. It is like this every Fourth of July, though. I have seen Navy Pier on days where it could almost pass as an abandoned theme park, (those were the days Tobias and I had the most fun), but tonight, people are elbow to elbow, as no one in Chicago wants to miss a chance to celebrate America's birthday, and what better place to do it than Navy Pier?

Surprisingly enough, Tobias and I get tickets quite quickly, and before we know it, we are inside one of the carts on the Ferris Wheel.

I run my hand along the red, plastic surface I am seated on, as the wheel begins its rotation. A gust of wind blows through the cart, causing it to shake, and Tobias to turn pale.

A loud noise goes off, similar to that of a gunshot, but not nearly as threatening. _The fireworks._

 _T_ he night sky is soon filled with bright colors, the sweet noise of ascending firecrackers, and patriotic music.

The Ferris Wheel lifts us higher, higher, until I feel almost as if I could reach out and touch one of the colorful sparks that make up the firework. I have always loved heights, but I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe its because when I'm up here, I feel like the problems down there don't matter. Height helps me to escape. To feel free.

"Wow," I whisper softly, taking in the picturesque scene before me. Tonight could not be more perfect. And I can't think of anyone I'd rather share this with.

Tobias looks at my expression of awe and smiles, and all of the fear seems to drain from his expression.

He gets up from his seat across from me, and carefully maneuvers himself so that he is seated next to me. He wraps his arm around my shoulder, and brings me into his side.

The wind that blows through our cart is cold, but I don't think either of us are cold now.

I feel his heartbeat against my back, and it is much faster than normal, but I have a hunch it doesn't have to do with the height.

The warm light from the buildings turn the clouds above them a dark orange, and between that, how high up we are, the fireworks, and Lake Michigan, I couldn't think of a prettier sight.

But as Tobias turn toward me, and cups my face gently in his hands, I think that maybe there is a prettier sight. That is Tobias.

Something sparks in the deep blue of his eyes, and he pulls my face to his. I feel something inside me ignite when our lips touch. The kiss is slow, and I savor every breath, and every moment our lips touch and pull away. Our love goes off like the fireworks.

My body is overcome with immense pleasure, not just in the kiss, but in this moment, and in my heart. _I love him._ I have never been so sure of something.

 _And I love my country._ I love that I get to wake up everyday, and know that I can be free and independent. I love the people that fought and died so that I could have that. I love that I have the freedom of speech and religion. I. Love. This. Country. And I am so grateful to be a part of it.

Boy, I'm proud to be an American.

 **Author's Note:**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this short story. I think I'm going to leave it as a one-shot, but if you really like it, I might consider continuing it. Maybe I'll make it a seasonal thing, and have a different story for all the major holidays. Let me know what you want in the reviews, also, please make sure to let me know if you enjoyed it! I love to hear from all of you.**

 **I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. Happy Independence Day.**


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